Saints Postgame Quotes

Payton, Brees, Ingram, Henderson and Jenkins recap the Packers game.

HEAD COACH SEAN PAYTON:(on the loss) “Obviously it was a hard-fought game. I was proud of the way we hung in there and fought back. There will be a lot of things on tape that we’ve got to clean up with this first game. Credit Green Bay. They did a very good job and did all the things they needed to do to win a home game like that.”

(on Green Bay’s offense) “It was a really good offense we played. Aaron (Rodgers) did a really good job. They’re an up-tempo team. Both teams were converting but we were having trouble getting off the field. There will be a handful of things we’ll look at and have to improve on, but part of that is a credit to Green Bay as well.”

(on the fourth-and-one play in the third quarter) “Hindsight, it’s easy to say kick the field goal. But that being said, we felt like we had a play we wanted to run, but it didn’t work. It’s not an easy call, but it’s one that you look back on and I’ll kick myself a little bit.”

(on running back Darren Sproles) “He’s electric. He changed (the game) for us. He gave us some momentum with the punt return and he’s one of those guys that makes great decisions in space.”

(on Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers) “It’s a little bit of a cat-and-mouse game. We got to him early, but he’s got a quick release and he’s got a handful of targets, obviously, starting with the tight ends and receivers. He’s probably one of the top quarterbacks in our league under pressure.”

QUARTERBACK DREW BREES:(on the team’s red-zone offense) “I think the biggest stat for us that is disappointing is our red-zone efficiency. We were 1-of-5, scoring touchdowns only one out of five times in the red zone. That’s not going to win you a lot of games, especially on the road in this type of environment against this team.”

(on getting down 14-0 early in the game) “Obviously they jumped out early. We knew we might need to weather the storm and I felt like we did a good job of staying composed and finding a way to scratch and claw our way back, and we did that. We had a chance at the end at least to tie it.”

(on whether or not it was the type of game he envisioned coming in) “Here’s the thing, you’ve got two great offenses and you’ve got two great defenses. It can be a 17-10 game; it can be a 42-34 game. You just don’t know what to expect. You just know you’ve got to take care of your business one play at a time.

RUNNING BACK MARK INGRAM:(on playing in his first NFL game) “Of course I was excited. It has always been a dream come true to play in the NFL, but at the end of the day I am more about winning. Today we didn’t come out with the win so we need to work hard and fix things that didn’t work out for us.”

(on the loss) “As a team we did a lot of things well, but I think when we look at the film we are going to kick ourselves in the butt a couple times with the turnovers and not converting on short yardage plays. I think that hurt us.”

(on the last play of the game) “You have to get a yard. It is the goal line to win the game. I have to get a yard.”

WIDE RECEIVER DEVERY HENDERSON:(on his touchdown catch) “It was just an opportunity that I took advantage of and Drew (Brees) did a good job of getting the ball to me.”

(on the game) “They did a good job of moving the ball. They did a good job on offense and they didn’t make any mistakes. Sometimes you need that to win a game. I give them credit; they did a great job. We fought, but we just came up short. It was a great game. I enjoyed playing in it. It is the first game, so we can’t hang our head on this one.”

SAFETY MALCOLM JENKINS:(on Aaron Rodgers) “We knew coming into it that he would make some plays. A lot of those were just some great throws into tight coverage. We just have to live with that. We tried to adjust to those back shoulder throws, but they earned those plays.”

(on if he thought the game would be such a shootout) “No defense wants to go into a game thinking it will be a shootout, but we knew they would have an explosive offense. We also feel comfortable with Drew that he will always keep us in games even when we aren’t at our best. When you have Drew Brees as your quarterback, you always have a chance.”